The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Friday, April 3, 2009

War News for Friday, April 03, 2009

The Romanian Ministry of National Defense is reporting the death of a Romanian ISAF soldier in a small arms fire incident in an undisclosed location about eighty kilometer south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, April 3rd. Here's the translated site from google, click on Bulletins in the side bar.


April 1 airpower summary:

Army Lied About How My Son Died in Iraq: Friendly-fire Victim Was 'Misidentified' as Enemy Gunman:

Spain to boost troop presence in Afghanistan:

Belgium to send more troops to Afghanistan:

Casualties caused by IEDs in Afghanistan on the rise:

Pak to raise drone attack issue with Holbrooke’

Prisoners held in Afghanistan can challenge detention: US court:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Seven mortars hit the former Iraq intelligence headquarters where US troops have a base in Baladiyat neighborhood in eastern Baghdad around 9 p.m. on Thursday. No casualties reported.

#2: Iraqi army killed one insurgent and arrested another while they were about to attack an Iraqi army check point in Mansour neighborhood in west Baghdad on Thursday.

#3: Four civilians were injured by a roadside bomb in Sleikh neighborhood in east Baghdad around 1 p.m.

#4: Four children were injured by mortar shells that hit Zafaraniyah area southeast Baghdad around 3 p.m.


Diyala Prv:
Khalis:
#1: Unidentified gunmen on Thursday kidnapped three civilians in al-Khalis area, in the northern part of Diala, a security source in the province said. “No information is available on the three citizens kidnapped in al-Khalis district, (15 km) north of Baaquba city,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Missan Prv:
#1: Four Katyusha rockets landed on a sugar factory in Missan on Thursday, setting ablaze one of the warehouses there, a security source in the province said. The incident also left 10 vehicles belonging to the facility on fire,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not give further details.


Taji:
#1: A U.S. aircraft attacked a group of men believed to be members of a government-allied Sunni paramilitary group as they were planting a roadside bomb north of Baghdad, killing one and wounding two, the U.S. military said Friday. The attack, which occurred Thursday night near Taji, followed last weekend's crackdown on another Sunni group in Baghdad, which began when the commander was arrested on criminal and terrorism charges. A U.S. statement said the airstrike was launched after four gunmen were seen planting a roadside bomb near Taji, site of a large U.S. air base about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of Baghdad. One of the gunmen was killed and the two wounded were captured in a nearby house, the U.S. said. They were handed over to Iraqi police.


Al Dour:
#1: A policeman was killed on Friday by unknown gunmen in south of Tikrit city, a police source said. “Four unknown gunmen attacked a house of a policeman in al-Qadissiya neighborhood in central al-Dour district, south of Tikrit, on the wee small hours of Friday (April 3) and killed him in front of his family,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Riyadh:
#1: Police forces found another bomb in al-Murra village in Riyadh district, southwest of Kirkuk, and defused it without casualties,” the source said.


Kirkuk:
#1: An officer of the al-Riad district police station died of wounds he had sustained earlier when an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to his vehicle went off on Thursday, a security source in Kirkuk said. “An officer in the rank of major from the police station of al-Riad district, (45 km) southwest of Kirkuk, died on Thursday of his wounds,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The officer had been seriously wounded when the sticky IED went off inside his vehicle on March 10. The blast then had left the driver killed, the source added.

#2: Three improvised bombs blew down a power tower in southwest of Kirkuk, causing material damage to it, a source from the joint coordination center said on Friday. “Three bombs, planted by unknown gunmen under a power tower, went off on Thursday night (April 3) in southwest of Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.


Mosul:
#1: A civilian and a policeman were slightly wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near the Ninewa province building in central Mosul on Thursday, according to a security source. “The police discovered the charge which was planted near concrete barricades from the direction of Bab Lakash area, central Mosul, and detonated it from a distance,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: The four militants were killed overnight in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province. Afghan and coalition forces raided a compound housing the local commander, killing two guards who attempted to engage the force, it said. Two armed militants ignored a call on civilians to vacate the compound and "were killed during the assault on the building," the military statement added.

#2: Elsewhere in Helmand, Afghan troops backed by foreign forces killed an insurgent during clashes with militants armed with small-arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars on Thursday, the military said separately.

#3: Militants using guns and petrol bombs attacked a terminal in northwest Pakistan on Friday holding supplies bound for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, damaging five shipping containers, said police. Militants attacked the terminal on the outskirts of Peshawar city before dawn Friday, torching five shipping containers before escaping, said police official Jarod Khan. "The terrorists first opened fire and then threw petrol bombs," he said.

Suspected Taliban militants in Pakistan destroyed nine parked Nato force vehicles after attacking a terminal, officials said Friday. Rebels targeted the Port World Logistic terminal in Peshawar with petrol bombs and rockets, the latest in a series of strikes against supplies for foreign forces across the border. "There were no casualties in the attack early Friday, but the fire destroyed nine Nato vehicles, including firefighting vans and four-by-four jeeps," local police official Fazal Wahid Khan said. He said militants traded fire with police until the attack was repulsed and rebels fled into the darkness. Another police official Anwar Khan confirmed the assault and said nine vehicles had been destroyed, but added the number of militants was not known. "We are also in the process of assessing the damage (from) the fire that broke out after militants threw hand grenades and fired rockets on the terminal," he said.

Taliban militants set ablaze two Humvee patrol vehicles and two fire engines bound for Western forces in Afghanistan in an attack on a transport terminal near the northwestern city of Peshawar, police and residents said.

#4: The joint coalition-Afghan mission late Thursday killed the 12 militants in Logar, one province south of Kabul, said Mustafa Mosseini, the provincial police chief. He said that militants forced their way into a civilian home and that a civilian woman was also killed during the battle.

#5: In the central Ghazni province, a roadside bomb killed four construction workers, while a battle between militants and police elsewhere in the province killed two militants, said Ghulam Zekria, a police official.

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